disabled children get £2m boost

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Disabled children get £2m boost

Brighton & Hove is to get more than £2million in extra funding over the next three years to improve short break services for disabled children in the city.

The council is one of only 21 in the first wave of the government's ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ programme.

Short breaks are a key service both for disabled children and their parents and carers. For children they are enjoyable and valuable chances to build new friendships and confidence.

For parents and carers they can be an important chance to give more attention to other children and get some quality time for themselves.

The breaks will vary in length according to the needs of the families, with disabled children and young people being cared for in their own home or given the chance to try out activities in the wider community. 

The city’s Children & Young People’s Trust will work closely with parents and all key organizations in the city to make sure services match the needs of disabled children and young people. This will involve consultation with disabled children and young people at every stage.

See here for more information on services for children with disabilities.

Extra help for struggling pupils

More than £700,000 of extra money is also to be spent over the next three years on services in schools aimed at helping children who are struggling with emotional and mental health problems.

The city’s Children & Young People’s Trust has bid successfully for the extra government cash to raise awareness of mental health issues, help schools identify children at risk, and to provide a range of support for them.

This will include extending the highly successful ‘Triple P’ positive parenting programme to make it more widely available to families where children are experiencing emotional difficulties.

The effectiveness of the extra support services will be measured by tracking a group of children from years 5 and 6 over the three-year period through their transition to secondary school.

Lead councillor for children’s services Vanessa Brown said: “This is about helping children who are having problems to reach their potential – and in turn to improve academic standards and behaviour in our schools.

“I believe these extra services will make a big difference to hundreds of children in the coming years.”